The present invention relates to a manually foldable fabric top for automobile vehicles.
While foldable tops for automobile vehicles are generally known and various control linkages have been devised for folding the top into an open position, there are various drawbacks of the currently used foldable tops. In particular, many foldable tops are not useful with a glass window or backlite. Rather, such tops use a flexible or rigid plastic material which tends to cloud upon prolonged exposure to sunlight and which is easily scratched. Those foldable tops which do .[.not.]. contain glass backlites have cumbersome mechanisms in which to detach or fold the back window to an open position.
Also, various foldable tops require the use of a special wrench or latching mechanism in order to disengage the roof top from its closed or locked position. This often causes a delay in opening or closing of the foldable top. Further, the prior art foldable tops are complicated to operate and demand that the operator have an accurate working knowledge of all the necessary .[.stops.]. .Iadd.steps .Iaddend.and procedures in order to operate the foldable top without damage to the automobile vehicle or to the top itself.
Further, various past designs of convertible tops entail complex linkage mechanisms and thus either tend to have sloppy tolerances with those mechanisms, which causes leaking or incomplete seals around the windows or windshield, or have tolerances which are too low and cause a torquing or bending of the linkage mechanisms, which in turn cause stress and premature breakage of the parts and/or incomplete seals and roof leakage. Also, these linkage mechanisms cause the automobile makers to encounter many difficulties during the manufacturing and installation of the foldable top on the vehicle body.
It is therefore the aim of the present invention to provide a manually foldable top for automobile vehicles which does not have the above described shortcomings and which, in particular, enables the manufacturer to efficiently mount the folding top on the vehicle body.
It is a further aim on the invention to provide a foldable top for automobile vehicles which is useful with glass backlites in order to take advantage of positive aspects of using a glass backlite; for example, glass backlites can be used with defrosters or heaters and glass does not cloud or fog or become easily scratched due to manipulation or movement.
As can be appreciated, considerable time would be saved if a foldable top for automobile vehicles could be employed which requires no special instructions or knowledge and which is easy to operate while sacrificing none of the advantages of standard hard top automobile vehicle roofs such as clear visibility through a heated or defroster type backlite and secure seals around the windows and windshield.